Have a Green Halloween

Have a Green Halloween

Holiday season is in full swing! Thanksgiving has passed, Halloween and Christmas are just around the corner, and we need to prepare to bring out our best. But even though these amazing holidays bring us a fair amount of joy, they leave us with the even larger amount of waste. Halloween especially can be a wasteful experience with sugary treats, expensive costumes, and even more expensive decorations. But celebrating Halloween doesn’t have to be expensive nor wasteful. Try implementing some green and eco-friendly choices in your Halloween tradition. Check out these simple tips and tricks to create new green Halloween traditions.

Green costumes

Make your own costume. We all have tiny creative designer hidden deep inside. In most of us it is hidden so deep that Halloween is the only time in the year when this little genius can come out. The truth is that Halloween is the time of the year when you can go ahead and sew something incredibly confusing and crazy, and nobody will laugh at your sewing techniques. No matter what you want to be this Halloween, you’ll surely come up with a perfect way for accomplishing that without buying an expensive costume. Search around your own closet, various thrift stores and yard sales to find something that can be an amazing addition to your costume. If you have kids, let their imagination lead you in this creative process. They will surely have great ideas about what can you do with that funny hat or colorful pants. It is Halloween, perfect time to let their imaginations run wild.

Children love playing dress-up all year long, so don’t throw away any old costumes. Get cheap entertainment for your kids by creating a costume box they can use anytime they wish to play dress-up. You can also donate old costumes to a charity and do a good deed.

Trade costumes. These costumes often get worn only for a couple of hours and then they are just tossed away. This is an enormous waste because almost every costume can be repurposed or reused. Why don’t you try swapping your old outfits with your friend or a colleague? Not only will you reduce the Halloween waste, but you won’t have to spend any money on it. You can even make a party about it, calling it a “trading party” or “Scary Swap” getting into the spirit of the season. Invite your friends, work colleagues, and your neighbors and instruct them to bring their own and their kids last year’s costumes or even bridesmaid or prom dresses. You’ll make a life easier for a lot of people, especially for those with kids.

Rent a costume. Did you know that there are a lot of stores that rent costumes? You don’t have to buy yet another Halloween costume, visit one of those stores and find your perfect match.

Green decorations

Decorating is without any doubt one of the most enjoyable parts of Halloween, but it is also the most expensive and wasteful. Each year we buy new decorations, mostly from ‘dollar’ type stores with the intention of throwing it away after Halloween, when we can use the old ones to create something amazing. If you invest a little effort, almost anything from your home can become scary but creative decoration. Say goodbye to all those generic plastic decorations and create something unique. You’ll surprise yourself with what can you do with things you already have in your home. Did you know that old stockings can easily be turned into spider webs? Save cardboard boxes and transform them into scary tombstones. For better effect rake the leaves in front of them to get a look of freshly dug graves. Decorate a garden with pumpkins you bought on a local farm, grown yourself or purchased at the farmers market. There are so many amazing recipes that include pumpkins so you won’t have to throw any part of them.

Green treats

Halloween is impossible to imagine without candy. Well, it is if you don’t want your house to end up egged. Luckily, now there are more ways than ever when it comes to organic candy choices. For example, you can get your candy from companies that donate some percentage of profits to charity. Make sure that treats you choose have minimal packaging or at least they are packaged in recycled materials. If you don’t want to give them treats, try choosing some interesting presents like toys made from recycled materials, temporary tattoos, coins, juice boxes or toothbrushes, but be prepared to deal with a lot of surprised children!

If you have children and don’t want them to eat too much candy, try inventing exchange game. Suggest them to leave their candy to a Halloween Fairy which will leave them gifts in return. They will love it. Don’t let them litter while you are walking from house to house. Bring a bag and gather candy wrappers or any other trash. Do a good deed and also gather those you see laying along the way.

Make your own Trick-or-Treat bags. Don’t waste your money buying a Trick-or-Treat bag, make your own. Buckets, canvas bags or pillow cases can all be used while trick-or-treating, and best of all they can be reused year after year. Decorate them according to your preferences to create one that will be perfect for the outfit of your little one.

Green party

Implement your eco-friendly lifestyle in every part of your Halloween experience by having a green party. Lower your waste by sending electronic invitations instead of paper ones and say goodbye to disposable cups, plates and cutlery. You can get dishes and napkins in any charity shops really cheap, and you can use it over and over again during your parties. If you don’t want to use regular dishes, try buying biodegradable or compostable dishware and make a difference.

Cook. Make sure that any food you prepare for a party is organic and healthy. Visit your local farmers’ market and start shopping. If there is a lot of leftovers left after the party, pack it and find out in advance who will take it and distribute it to those who need it.

Recycle. Put recycling bins for bottles and cans on the visible spot so your guest can make responsible and ecological solutions. Don’t forget to compost any leftovers.

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